Pharaoh’s Curse Pt. 06

"Andy," Alex called softly to him. Her jaw snapped shut when she saw how he raised his hand over his right shoulder. Noticing how he was looking to and fro as if only he could hear it, then again, this was her son. That was likely the case.

"I hope you brought your sword," Andrew said ominously, knowing where they were. He didn't know when they crossed over, yet there was no mistaking that they weren't on Earth any longer.

"Never leave home without it," Ira joked to bring some levity to the situation.

"Good, you might need it," Andrew warned.

"Andy, baby, why do you say that?" Alex asked in a fearful tone.

"Because we've officially crossed over to the Duat," Andrew spoke matter-of-factly. "So stay close," he voiced his warning as he called forth the weapons of Ra.

"What's the Duat?" Ira whispered to Anta.

"The Egyptian underworld," Anta spoke from over her shoulder. Reaching over, taking hold of Carla's hand, pondering if this was what Andrew meant that this place was dangerous. Feeling Carla trembling just as she was as her eyes darted about trying to see everything that the light of her flashlight shone upon. Seeing the alien shapes of plants, the cries of something she didn't want to know, feeling the dirt shifting beneath her feet as she followed after Andrew. Anta didn't know whether what she was seeing was real or fake. Still, that didn't lower her fright one bit as they continued on.

"Andrew, how far do we have left?" Ira asked when it felt like they'd been walking for hours.

"We're getting close," Andrew muttered, flashing his flashlight to the left and right as both plans played before his eyes. He assumed his mother, Carla, and Anta could only see Duat or what Anubis was showing them. He, and he could only guess as well with Ira, could peer through the illusion. While they weren't truly in Duat, yet he knew even an illusion of the place could just be as deadly as the real thing. His body went tense; off in the distance, he heard the thundering of paws, paws that he knew what they belonged to. The Anubis hounds! "Can I count on you to protect them?" Andrew asked, shooting Ira a questioning look.

"Of course," Ira nodded sternly.

"Andrew, what are you going to do?!" Alex asked, fearful that she was going to lose him just how she thought she was going to lose him in Punt.

"Talk to a god," Andrew said factually as he turned towards his mother. "I'll be okay," he uttered reassuringly as the blue ring of his divinity appeared as his skin began to give off a holy glow of his godhood, as weak as it was. Nodding to Ira as he brought his wings around his mother, Carla, and Anta, hearing their pleading voice not to do this. Yet, it had to be done. He knew if they didn't appease Anubis for daring to enter his domain, he wouldn't let them go.

Oh you, who are the Opener of the Ways,

Hear my voice.

Oh you, whose ears pierce the Walls of Noise,

Hear my voice.

Oh you, who walk unheeding through the Winds of Fear

Hear my voice.

You are the Dark Pupil of the Sun,

The Knowledgeable Eclipse in the Iris of Fire;

You are the Seeing Darkness.

Guide me safely through the terrors of my own unseeing;

Preserve me from my unspoken sorrows;

Return me safely through the Gate of Becoming,

And open for me

The door that admits humankind

To the Eternal Garden.

Oh you, who are the Opener of the Ways,

Walk with me.

Feeling Duat rippling as Andrew chanted Anubis's prayer. Hearing the sounds of jackals on the air, knowing the god of death was drawing near. Throwing up his hand as the light of the giant ankh flared into existence. Biting down his fear as he knew Anubis had arrived. Feeling Anubis's displeasure pressing down on him not because he had entered his realm but because he had brought Ira along with him.

"Speak, Pharaoh, before I have my hounds drag you and your cohorts into the depths of Duat," Anubis threatened.

"Forgive the intrusion, Lord Anubis," Andrew spoke rapidly, feeling that Anubis would do just that if he didn't like what he heard. "I warned them this would be dangerous; I just couldn't remember why it was dangerous. If I had remembered that this was your sanctuary, I would've told them to forget about it."

"And why have you transgressed into my domain?" Anubis asked in a hard tone.

"Well, you see, Lord Anubis," rubbing the back of his head, hoping he, along with the others, didn't get dragged off to some far-off corner of the Duat to spend, however long shouldering Anubis's wrath, "there's this book at the center of this place, that guy back there..."

"The Yahweh spawn," Anubis nodded.

"Yeah, him," Andrew continued, "he needs it to fight something called the Sisters of the Underworld, whatever that is..." Arching an eyebrow when Anubis did something very human, he scratched his chin.

"Hmm... yes, there has been a stirring lately, yet that doesn't excuse you from invading my realm," Anubis said sternly.

"I know my Lord Anubis, I promise to..."

"You will offer to me four ding dongs at my shrine," Anubis cut in.

"Sure, whatever you want," Andrew stated, trying not to judge a god on his snack of choice. Without another word, Andrew was thrust back into the mortal world along with everyone else. "Come on, it's close," he said, taking off down the left corridor.

"Andy, Andy, wait?!" Alex called out after him, wanting to know what he and Anubis spoke about and what the god wanted from her son if Anubis wanted anything. "What did you and Anubis talk about?" she asked when Andrew turned back towards her.

"Nothing of import," Andrew retorted, not voicing that he was going to have to find some ding dongs in Cairo once this whole adventure was over with. He wasn't about to have a death god hounding him all because he forgot.

"It has to be something, Andrew; you disappeared!" Anta stated in a worried tone.

"I... what?" Andrew muttered, rightly confused.

"It has to be something, Andy, seeing how whatever that was that surrounded us is gone now," Carla spoke, gesturing to their surroundings. Not wanting to believe that they had been indeed in the Duat. That was something her mind just couldn't fathom at the moment.

"It's nothing; just have to appease a god when this is all over," Andrew said offhandedly as he turned back around and continued on.

"Andrew, I know I can sense some distance between us, especially after what happened in Punt. That's not what I want; I would like to be friends; there's not many like us on Earth that deal with..."

"Metaphysical bullshit," Andrew cut in as he peered past the three of them to peer at Ira.

"Yeah, you won't believe what I've put up with since learning about who I am. But I don't want whatever bad blood that's going on between your gods and my great-grandparents," nodding when Alex, Anta, and Carla glanced back at him with that questioning look that spoke loudly 'Really?!', "to hinder our friendship so whatever this Nu is that they stole, I'll do my damnedest to get it back for you."

"You can't, not with what you are," Andrew said coldly as he turned back around to finish one task and to put this part of his life behind him.

"I've been meaning to ask you, honey, what did you mean they stole Nu? I thought it was just a myth..." Alex knew how stupid that sounded the moment it left her lips.

"I just know what Bast told me before we ever left England," Andrew said from over his shoulder. "That God, or whatever you want to call him, stole into the Heavens with Ba'al at his side and stole Nu that the gods have protected for eons. Then used Nu to fashion the Heavens to their desire, or that's what she has told me. Still, begs to question how much of a hypocrite God is."

Ira pressed his lips together. While he wanted to refute Andrew's words, yet he couldn't. For the simple fact that he knew Andrew was telling the truth or his form of the truth. He was a demon; after all, he could taste a lie on the air. He knew he couldn't ask his aunts about it since they hadn't been created at that point in time. He was just going to have to get it from the horse's mouth. Wondering if he was going to be able to survive that encounter or not. "Best to do it in my realm," Ira muttered to himself. The shriek that Carla produced brought Ira back to the present as she danced around when a scorpion crawled over her foot. Looking behind him, wondering when the wave of flesh-eating scarabs would be pouring down the corridor. The shuffling of feet that came to a halt brought his attention back to the forefront.

"Is something wrong, Andy?" Alex asked in a sweet tone as she laid her hand lightly on her son's back as Andrew stood facing a rather ornate wall.

"No, we're here," Andrew spoke as he cut his flashlight off.

"But I don't see a thing other than this wall," Alex muttered, shining her light down the left and right corridors. Only seeing darkness, paint, and lots of dust that her light showed her.

"Then let me amaze and impress you," Andrew uttered, placing his hands on the wall. Closing his eyes, willing his divinity to the surface, feeling his ankh ring growing hot against his skin as he drew upon his pharaonic power. Hearing their gasps behind him as a red light raced down the seam of the wall as the seal was broken on a place that was never meant to be seen by mortal eyes.

Ira felt the ring of Solomon vibrating on his right ring finger. He knew whatever laid inside that place indeed held the book since the ring had never done that before. Seeing how Andrew straightened up, noticing a change in him since coming back from Punt. When Ira first met Andrew at the grand opening of the exhibition, he thought Andrew was nothing more than a strange mortal. Now, however, he began to feel Andrew's godly essence. While Andrew was still mortal, yet he couldn't deny whatever was inside of him made Andrew more than just a simple mortal. Seeing his female companions parting as Andrew peered back at him.

"Well, you wanted the book; go on," Andrew gestured for him to enter.

"But aren't you going in there?" Ira asked, confused by the action.

"Hell no," Andrew snorted.

"Why not, Andy?" Carla asked curiously.

"Because the whole floor is booby-trapped is why," Andrew stated factually, peering over at her.

"Ah, then I'll just be a second," Ira said as he walked past and into the central chamber. Using his vast powers, lifting himself off the ground, and walking on air to avoid triggering any traps that lay beneath his feet. He'd rather not have the roof caving in on him. He didn't want to add another ancient site to the growing list, he's already been its harbinger. Feeling the power within the book as his fingers ran over the leather binding. The moment he opened the book, he felt his demonic half trying to be ripped from his body as the book tried and failed to consume it. Slamming the book closed, he was definitely going to need Samuel for this. He doubted he could read one page without the damn thing trying to tear him into two.

"So you got what you came for. Can we like go?" Andrew asked, eager to be out of Anubis's domain.

"Right, best we not linger any longer," Ira nodded, holding the book tightly to his chest as he rejoined the four. "If you all just come together, I'll get you all back to London in a blink of an eye."

"Andrew, can we talk before..." Alex's words were cut off as that once silent maze returned to its eerie silence. No one would ever know that five people explored an underground site highly sought after by those in the know and would give their firstborn to see an ounce of what Alex and company had witnessed that day. "He leaves?" Alex continued like nothing ever happened.

"What about?" Ira asked very curiously.

"I was thinking since we don't have digs going during the winter in Egypt that I and if Andy wants to join, we return to Atlantis to really suss out everything there," Alex stated, ignoring how they appeared back in their hotel room like they had never left it. If she discounted the doppelgangers that stood emotionless just blinking at them. Which as you can imagine, she found it rather creepy staring at herself.

"Of course, of course, and I hope you wouldn't mind if I joined in to get the experience I need," Ira clarified.

"As long as you follow my strict orders," Alex stated sternly, seeing the look her son shot her.

"Then you have to take us with you; you're going to need lots of hands to comb through all that," Carla uttered excitedly, with Anta nodding along.

"If I say no, will you leave those copies with me?" Andrew asked, noting how Ira was biting his lip, trying not to laugh as his mother slapped him hard on his chest.

"Andy?! Why have them when you already got us," Anta pouted.

"What? They got all the right curves in all the right places, plus, I'll just be in the way," Andrew said truthfully.

"Baby, you're never in the way," Alex cooed in a loving tone as she snuggled up to him, earning 'Mmmhmms' from Carla and Anta as they joined in.

"Well, I'm heading out before what I think is going to happen, happens," Ira said with a knowing smirk. "Ladies, it was a pleasure getting to know you," he spoke in a warm, friendly tone as he nodded his head to them. "Andrew, I don't know when, but I get the feeling we'll be seeing each other again," Ira uttered ominously before fading from existence as well as the doppelgangers.

"Bast!" Anta squealed in delight as Bast's cat form leapt onto the couch that dotted the common area of the hotel room they were staying in. Rubbing her cheek against Bast's own as she held her in her arms. Cooing down to her as she swayed Bast gently as Carla ran for the bathroom.

"Well, Andrew, what's next for the Great Pharoah Menes II?" Alex asked with a smug smile on her lips.

"Haven't a clue, but I'm sure someone will drag me into trouble any day now," Andrew mumbled as he glanced over to Bast, who had a devious glint in her eyes.

To Be Continued...

[1] Nut (Ancient Egyptian: Nwt), also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion.

[2] Believed the first pharaoh was Narmer, also called Menes.

[3] Last ruler of the Old Kingdom.

[4] In Ancient Egypt, the god Geb, also known as Seb or Keb, was the great god of the earth.

[5] Is the ancient Egyptian goddess of truth, justice, harmony, and balance.

[6] The Egyptian goddess of protection, pleasure, and the bringer of good health

[7] Is the deification of the primordial watery abyss in the Hermopolitan Ogdoad cosmogony of ancient Egyptian religion.

[8] Is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life.

[9] The ancient Egyptian deity of the sun. He was the god of the sun, order, kings and the sky.

[10] Is a large Ancient Egyptian temple complex located on the east bank of the Nile River in the city today known as Luxor (ancient Thebes) and was constructed approximately 1400 BCE.

[11] Comprises a vast mix of decayed temples, chapels, pylons, and other buildings near Luxor, in Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I in the Middle Kingdom (around 2000--1700 BC) and continued into the Ptolemaic period (305--30 BC), although most of the extant buildings date from the New Kingdom.

[12] Ammit (devourer of the dead) -- is an Egyptian demoness and goddess with the body of a lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile.

[13] Ra's solar barge, also known as Mandjet.

[14] Egyptian land of the dead.

[15] The ancient Egyptian god of the Nile River.

[16] The obelisk was originally erected in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis on the orders of Thutmose III, around 1450 BC.

[17] Is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile.

[18] Was the capital city of the first dynasties of ancient Egypt.

[19] Is the capital of the modern Asyut Governorate in Egypt.

[20] Is one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, and also of the eighth nome in Upper Egypt.

[21] Is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

[22] Was a pharaoh of ancient Egypt and the founder of the Twenty-second Dynasty of Egypt. He is presumed to be the Shishak mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and his exploits are carved on the Bubastite Portal at Karnak.

[23] The legendary temple was said to contain 3000 rooms full of hieroglyphs and paintings.

[24] The last powerful ruler of the Twelfth dynasty, Amenmehet III built two pyramids, one at Dashur, The Black Pyramid, and a second pyramid here at near the town of Hawara el-Makta, deep in the Fayum, not far from Senwosret II's pyramid at Il-Lahun.

[25] The temple found in part one.

[26] Also known as Hor-Den, Dewen and Udimu, is the Horus name of a pharaoh of the Early Dynastic Period who ruled during the First Dynasty of Egypt. He is the best archaeologically-attested ruler of this period. Den is said to have brought prosperity to his realm and numerous innovations are attributed to his reign. He was the first to use the title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt", and the first depicted as wearing the double crown (red and white). The floor of his tomb at Umm El Qa'ab near Abydos is made of red and black granite, the first time in Egypt this hard stone was used as a building material. During his long reign he established many of the customs of court ritual and royalty used by later rulers and he was held in high regard by his immediate successors.

[27] Is an ancient Egyptian hieratic papyrus thought to date from the reign of Pharaoh Ramesses II, now in the Museo Egizio (Egyptian Museum) in Turin.

[28] See PSF 18 for more details on Cora's awakening.

[29] 10th ruler of the 18th dynasty.

[30] Akhenaten's Queen, mother of Tutankhamen, and Pharaoh.

[31] Hierakonpolis - Hierakonpolis, or "City of the Hawk," is the Greek name for the modern city of Kom el-Ahmar, known to its ancient residents as Nekhen. It is a large predynastic and later townsite located 70 miles (113 km) north of Aswan on a 1.5 km (.9 mi) stretch of the west bank of the Nile River in Upper Egypt. It is the largest pre- and proto-dynastic Egyptian site discovered to date; and it is a key location for understanding the emergence of Egyptian civilization.

[32] Is one of the more ancient and commonly found symbols in ancient Egyptian religion. It is a pillar-like symbol in Egyptian hieroglyphs representing stability. It is associated with the creator god Ptah and Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead. It is commonly understood to represent his spine.

[33] Was the first pharaoh (1189 BC--1186 BC) of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt and the father of Ramesses III.